Confused About Specialty: ENT vs Ophtho

[seabass46]

I could really use some help from residents or other medical students who have faced this problem. I started med school in 2013 and overall did very well - Junior AOA, honors in most clerkships, high Step 1 and Step 2 scores. Throughout my 3rd year I flip-flopped between almost every specialty medicine has to offer. At the beginning of 4th year I still had no idea where I wanted to land for residency and never had the ahh-ha moment. I have the stats to match into whatever specialty I want, and all of my mentors constantly say I'd be good in whatever I choose. By application season I honestly had a pretty significant breakdown trying to find the "perfect specialty." I decided to take research time, clear my head, and graduate/match in 2018 (extending my 4th year). So now that I'm headed into my new application session this fall I need to figure out where I belong in this big world of medicine. Here are my thoughts on specialties. Anes, IM, Peds, Path, Rads, Gen Surg, Neuro, Family, ObGyn, Ortho = Truthfully not interested in these (the good news).

Specialties I'm interested in:

ENT: This has been my top choice for several months (while on research). I enjoyed my 3rd year 2-week rotation greatly and like the pathology, anatomy, and think the clinic/surgery mix is a perfect combo. Lately, I have been having cold feet about ENT because of the lifestyle during residency. I'm single with no children and and only moderately have a life outside of medicine. I'm just having self-doubts about my ability to handle the endless 80 hours weeks or if I get to my PGY-2 and regret not going into a more lifestyle friendly specialty that I'm only slightly less interested in like....

Ophtho: I've done 6 weeks of ophtho rotations and generally had a good time. The things that scare me are the limited scope of practice, encroachment of optometry, and effectively having to "hang up the stethoscope." I'm still generally interested in the content (but ENT content is more exciting IMO), and the lifestyle is undoubtedly easier in residency. I'm having a very hard time weighing the ENT and Ophtho.

I think the toughest thing for me about choosing is understanding the rigor of surgical specialties. It's hard to know what you're getting yourself into until you're actually doing it. I can honestly say I never felt burnt out in medical school. Maybe I was lucky, but I felt like I did a good job of working when it was time to work and relaxing when I had free time. If my life is as happy in ENT as it is in medical school, then sign me up! But again, hard to know. :/ I've heard from so many residents that if all things are equal, choose the specialty with an easier lifestyle. Leaves me second guessing my choices all the time. This decision is paralyzing for me, and it's truthfully the only aspect of med school that has caused me anguish.

Sorry for the long post, but I'm terribly lost. I'd appreciate any help and am happy to answer questions. Thank you all.

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[AcademicNeurosurgery]

I could really use some help from residents or other medical students who have faced this problem. I started med school in 2013 and overall did very well - Junior AOA, honors in most clerkships, high Step 1 and Step 2 scores. Throughout my 3rd year I flip-flopped between almost every specialty medicine has to offer. At the beginning of 4th year I still had no idea where I wanted to land for residency and never had the ahh-ha moment. I have the stats to match into whatever specialty I want, and all of my mentors constantly say I'd be good in whatever I choose. By application season I honestly had a pretty significant breakdown trying to find the "perfect specialty." I decided to take research time, clear my head, and graduate/match in 2018 (extending my 4th year). So now that I'm headed into my new application session this fall I need to figure out where I belong in this big world of medicine. Here are my thoughts on specialties. Anes, IM, Peds, Path, Rads, Gen Surg, Neuro, Family, ObGyn, Ortho = Truthfully not interested in these (the good news).

Specialties I'm interested in:

ENT: This has been my top choice for several months (while on research). I enjoyed my 3rd year 2-week rotation greatly and like the pathology, anatomy, and think the clinic/surgery mix is a perfect combo. Lately, I have been having cold feet about ENT because of the lifestyle during residency. I'm single with no children and and only moderately have a life outside of medicine. I'm just having self-doubts about my ability to handle the endless 80 hours weeks or if I get to my PGY-2 and regret not going into a more lifestyle friendly specialty that I'm only slightly less interested in like....

Ophtho: I've done 6 weeks of ophtho rotations and generally had a good time. The things that scare me are the limited scope of practice, encroachment of optometry, and effectively having to "hang up the stethoscope." I'm still generally interested in the content (but ENT content is more exciting IMO), and the lifestyle is undoubtedly easier in residency. I'm having a very hard time weighing the ENT and Ophtho.

I think the toughest thing for me about choosing is understanding the rigor of surgical specialties. It's hard to know what you're getting yourself into until you're actually doing it. I can honestly say I never felt burnt out in medical school. Maybe I was lucky, but I felt like I did a good job of working when it was time to work and relaxing when I had free time. If my life is as happy in ENT as it is in medical school, then sign me up! But again, hard to know. :/ I've heard from so many residents that if all things are equal, choose the specialty with an easier lifestyle. Leaves me second guessing my choices all the time. This decision is paralyzing for me, and it's truthfully the only aspect of med school that has caused me anguish.

Sorry for the long post, but I'm terribly lost. I'd appreciate any help and am happy to answer questions. Thank you all.

You've worked hard for four years in medical school and done well. Not sure why you are shying away from hard work now. This seems like a no-brainer to me - you are single, no kids, etc. No residency is a walk in the park; put in the work for 5 years of ENT and enjoy the rest of your career in a specialty you clearly seem to enjoy more. Just my two pennies.

 

[colbgw02]

Focusing too much on residency lifestyle rather than career lifestyle is a bad idea, and it's a really bad idea if you don't have outside concerns (read family). You're probably going to practice for 30 years, so the extra time spent in residency now is a drop in the bucket. Do ENT.

 

[scootad.]

May want to factor in job market considerations. Do you want to work in a big/desirable city? I'm guessing Ophtho is more saturated, which may lead to lower salaries? May want to ask people in the field or just coming out of training.

 

[seabass46]

Thanks for the old replies from everyone. I'm still very conflicted about which way I'm leaning, and I'm quickly running out of time. It seems like I have grass is greener syndrome. When I'm on an ophtho rotation I miss ENT. When I'm on ENT (right now) I feel like I have more interest in Ophtho. I'm just so conflicted

 

[operaman]

Both are great fields. Both have tough residencies. Remember that the misery in most surgical residencies is frontloaded so the brutality evolves And things get more fun and you get better and get to do more.

Judge the fields by your interest in the bread and butter. In neither field will your daily practice be a anything like your experience as a student where you basically float among highly supspecialized experts seeing and doing all the coolest stuff. Pick the field where you like the bread and butter stuff or some subspecialty within it that you could be happy doing to the exclusion of the rest of that field.

 

[seabass46]

Both are great fields. Both have tough residencies. Remember that the misery in most surgical residencies is frontloaded so the brutality evolves And things get more fun and you get better and get to do more.

Judge the fields by your interest in the bread and butter. In neither field will your daily practice be a anything like your experience as a student where you basically float among highly supspecialized experts seeing and doing all the coolest stuff. Pick the field where you like the bread and butter stuff or some subspecialty within it that you could be happy doing to the exclusion of the rest of that field.

I think that's really great advice. Thank you. I also get conflicted because sometimes I think with my heart and sometimes I think with my head. Ophtho seems to be under a lot of stress as a specialty with declining reimbursements and encroachment by optometrists. The future may look rather bleek for them. But I don't feel like that's the case for ENT. I dont know how much weight I should put on these thoughts though.

 

[operaman]

I think that's really great advice. Thank you. I also get conflicted because sometimes I think with my heart and sometimes I think with my head. Ophtho seems to be under a lot of stress as a specialty with declining reimbursements and encroachment by optometrists. The future may look rather bleek for them. But I don't feel like that's the case for ENT. I dont know how much weight I should put on these thoughts though.

Can you think if ONE attending in either specialty where you could see yourself really happy taking over their current practice? Not ALL of the attendings, just one. You don't get to do all the other cool stuff in that field, just whatever that one person does.

I'd say think mainly about what you'd like to do with your days and what you find interesting, what kind of patient crazy you can tolerate. lifestyle can be whatever you make it depending on what else you're willing to sacrifice. The future of the specialty things are less powerful to me because those things are terribly unpredictable. I think you'll be able to make a good living in either one.

 

[TypeADissection]

My wife is an ENT. Make no mistake about it, the residency is brutal. It is a surgical residency and airway problems require timely intervention. There's also a lot of clinic but since you're deciding between ophtho and ENT, you've accepted that you like the large volume of clinic work. But her life now as an attending is really not that bad. Clinic days are brutal, call is hit or miss, but for the most part she's happy with how it's allowed her to carve out a nice mix of surgery, clinic and family. Or you can go totally for lifestyle and do what I did, go into vascular surgery... Good luck. Don't forget to have fun along the way.

 

[anbuitachi]

both make a lot of money compared to other specialties. but are 'chill' after residency if you want it to be. ENT residency is way harder than optho residency. Like many said id say dont focus too much on lifestyle in residency. It's 5 years. But then again 5 years is not a short time, so if you also like optho, do optho

 

[bannie22]

i think you have lifestyle very high on your priorities. i just want to caution that optho is not necessarily more slacker than ent.
i think their residency workload is much closer than you might think and might just be dependent on where u match.

of course with optho thats 1 year less, and 1 transition year of slacker so... i would say on average optho is easier residency.

 

[Osteoth]

My wife is an ENT. Make no mistake about it, the residency is brutal. It is a surgical residency and airway problems require timely intervention. There's also a lot of clinic but since you're deciding between ophtho and ENT, you've accepted that you like the large volume of clinic work. But her life now as an attending is really not that bad. Clinic days are brutal, call is hit or miss, but for the most part she's happy with how it's allowed her to carve out a nice mix of surgery, clinic and family. Or you can go totally for lifestyle and do what I did, go into vascular surgery... Good luck. Don't forget to have fun along the way.

Wait thats sarcasm right? I was under the impression vascular is a terrible lifestyle...

 

[sunealoneal]

ENT: This has been my top choice for several months (while on research). I enjoyed my 3rd year 2-week rotation greatly and like the pathology, anatomy, and think the clinic/surgery mix is a perfect combo. Lately, I have been having cold feet about ENT because of the lifestyle during residency. I'm single with no children and and only moderately have a life outside of medicine. I'm just having self-doubts about my ability to handle the endless 80 hours weeks or if I get to my PGY-2 and regret not going into a more lifestyle friendly specialty that I'm only slightly less interested in like....

Ophtho: I've done 6 weeks of ophtho rotations and generally had a good time. The things that scare me are the limited scope of practice, encroachment of optometry, and effectively having to "hang up the stethoscope." I'm still generally interested in the content (but ENT content is more exciting IMO), and the lifestyle is undoubtedly easier in residency. I'm having a very hard time weighing the ENT and Ophtho.

A couple thoughts... I personally think you'll do just fine in ENT residency. You're misjudging the time you've put in already that put you in this rather commendable dilemma. Residency will be a relatively fleeting stretch of time in your life, and you should exclusively think about your practice.

That said, your negatives about Ophtho are a bit heightened. "Scope" as in variety of cases? I think that will matter a bit less to you once you're in practice. Optometry is certainly a thing (I've seen physicians having to court them in order to get referrals) but it seems like a relative equilibrium has been reached. If you fellowship in something like retina or strabismus, then this problem is virtually nonexistent.

 

[seabass46]

I don't think lifestyle is concerning me much anyone as I am now putting in about 75 hours a week and don't feel burnt out. My top thoughts at the moment are....
1. Encroachment of optometry scares the **** outta me.
2. The compensation patterns of ophtho are incredibly confusing. If Medscape and MGMA salaries are accurate I think I'd be 100% satisfied. To me 330k in ophtho compared to 390k in ENT is a nonissue. I get concerned when I see 140k for ophtho and 390k for ENT.
3. As I rotate on ENT I realize I'm still not wild about inpatient care. It's tedious and frustrating. Trachs are just not interesting; I'm not a huge fan of peds; eyes are 100x more interesting than ears.
4. I'm really interested in doing physician leadership in the future. I'm not sure how amendable ophtho is to global healthcare leadership vs ENT.

You are all outstanding individuals for taking time to share your thoughts. The support from you all is amazing.

 

[TypeADissection]

Wait thats sarcasm right? I was under the impression vascular is a terrible lifestyle...

I don't even know what sarcasm means...

But yes, vascular surgery can get a bit rough at times. Sick patients. Big surgeries. Terribly noncompliant. But if you enjoy operating all throughout the body, longitudinal care for your patients, and playing with cool high tech toys; you may want to take a look at vascular surgery. It's not for everyone though. But I don't want to hijack this thread geeking out about how dope this field is.

 

[Osteoth]

I don't think lifestyle is concerning me much anyone as I am now putting in about 75 hours a week and don't feel burnt out. My top thoughts at the moment are....
1. Encroachment of optometry scares the **** outta me.
2. The compensation patterns of ophtho are incredibly confusing. If Medscape and MGMA salaries are accurate I think I'd be 100% satisfied. To me 330k in ophtho compared to 390k in ENT is a nonissue. I get concerned when I see 140k for ophtho and 390k for ENT.
3. As I rotate on ENT I realize I'm still not wild about inpatient care. It's tedious and frustrating. Trachs are just not interesting; I'm not a huge fan of peds; eyes are 100x more interesting than ears.
4. I'm really interested in doing physician leadership in the future. I'm not sure how amendable ophtho is to global healthcare leadership vs ENT.

You are all outstanding individuals for taking time to share your thoughts. The support from you all is amazing.

There is encroachment in ENT as well with plastics, CT, nsurg, though the model is obviously very different.

From what I've read in optho the major metropolitan markets are relatively saturated, so the salary ranges are widely spread. You have guys who own clinics + employ optometrists making multi-million dollars, but then you have guys doing hospital-based ophthalmology making $150k to work in LA/SF/NYC.

When you're an attending from what I gather you can structure your time around what you are more interested in, be it clinic or OR.

 

[sunealoneal]

The ENTs in my town have a gentleman's agreement. Plastics takes the brunt of the trauma call, ENT stays away from cosmetic noses.

 

[sunealoneal]

1. Encroachment of optometry scares the **** outta me.
2. The compensation patterns of ophtho are incredibly confusing. If Medscape and MGMA salaries are accurate I think I'd be 100% satisfied. To me 330k in ophtho compared to 390k in ENT is a nonissue. I get concerned when I see 140k for ophtho and 390k for ENT.

1. They won't be doing surgery anytime soon. And I think you'll find that most really don't want to.

2. Yes, it does seem to vary. However, Think you'll find that general surgical ophtho currently has such a high surgical volume that they can really clean up.

 

[Bronze Medal]

I'm just starting my PGY-3 year in ophthalmology. A few thoughts:

1) I often do feel like "less of a real doctor" in ophthalmology. That is probably the biggest downside of the field for me.
2) For the most part I really like ophthalmology clinic. Lasers are AWESOME and I've gotten to do quite a few laser procedures so far.
3) Eye surgery is also really neat. I like cataracts, lid surgery, and eye muscle surgery.
4) Actually being a resident is way better than shadowing as a medical student. I remember becoming somewhat bored as a medical student in ophthalmology clinic or in the OR because there is so much watching and so little doing.
5) Optometry encroachment scares me too. Also pisses me off TBH. I've been following the recent events in Florida and NC and have been motivated to get involved in my local medical societies. I wrote letters to house subcommittees a few months ago.
6) I'm at a busy program in terms of call, but we still definitely work less than the ENT residents at our university. I probably average 65 hours per week. Some weeks I am close to 80 hours and some weeks I am closer to 40 hours. Ophthalmology call can be very busy, but this is really program and location dependent.
7) At first I struggled with feeling like I was "giving up" the rest of the body by choosing ophthalmology. However, I really enjoy being a specialist now.

I chose ophthalmology relatively early and never really considered ENT. I knew I didn't want a residency with a truly surgical lifestyle, so I can't weigh in too much on your ENT vs. ophthalmology dilemma. For what it's worth I'm a married woman with children and I think I've been able to strike a pretty good life/work balance thus far. Good luck with your decision.

 

[Bronze Medal]

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by global healthcare leadership, but ophthalmology is a tremendous field if you are interested in short term or long term international work.

 

[seabass46]

I'm just starting my PGY-3 year in ophthalmology. A few thoughts:

1) I often do feel like "less of a real doctor" in ophthalmology. That is probably the biggest downside of the field for me.
2) For the most part I really like ophthalmology clinic. Lasers are AWESOME and I've gotten to do quite a few laser procedures so far.
3) Eye surgery is also really neat. I like cataracts, lid surgery, and eye muscle surgery.
4) Actually being a resident is way better than shadowing as a medical student. I remember becoming somewhat bored as a medical student in ophthalmology clinic or in the OR because there is so much watching and so little doing.
5) Optometry encroachment scares me too. Also pisses me off TBH. I've been following the recent events in Florida and NC and have been motivated to get involved in my local medical societies. I wrote letters to house subcommittees a few months ago.
6) I'm at a busy program in terms of call, but we still definitely work less than the ENT residents at our university. I probably average 65 hours per week. Some weeks I am close to 80 hours and some weeks I am closer to 40 hours. Ophthalmology call can be very busy, but this is really program and location dependent.
7) At first I struggled with feeling like I was "giving up" the rest of the body by choosing ophthalmology. However, I really enjoy being a specialist now.

I chose ophthalmology relatively early and never really considered ENT. I knew I didn't want a residency with a truly surgical lifestyle, so I can't weigh in too much on your ENT vs. ophthalmology dilemma. For what it's worth I'm a married woman with children and I think I've been able to strike a pretty good life/work balance thus far. Good luck with your decision.

Do you think that the encroachment is enough to dissuade one from going into ophthalmology? I can't see how the problem is going to get better before it gets worse.

 

[Osteoth]

The ENTs in my town have a gentleman's agreement. Plastics takes the brunt of the trauma call, ENT stays away from cosmetic noses.

That may be but n=1.

And if you're a fellowship-boarded cosmetic ENT how chapped would you be to have to dig a hole and bury that skillset?

 

[sunealoneal]

That may be but n=1.

And if you're a fellowship-boarded cosmetic ENT how chapped would you be to have to dig a hole and bury that skillset?

Well, yes. My point is that medical practice in the community setting is highly variable depending on the medical community and what you're willing to give up.

Plastics fellowship isn't necessarily needed for an ENT surgeon to be comfortable doing rhinoplasty.

 

[masaraksh]

I'm just starting my PGY-3 year in ophthalmology. A few thoughts:

1) I often do feel like "less of a real doctor" in ophthalmology. That is probably the biggest downside of the field for me.
2) For the most part I really like ophthalmology clinic. Lasers are AWESOME and I've gotten to do quite a few laser procedures so far.
3) Eye surgery is also really neat. I like cataracts, lid surgery, and eye muscle surgery.
4) Actually being a resident is way better than shadowing as a medical student. I remember becoming somewhat bored as a medical student in ophthalmology clinic or in the OR because there is so much watching and so little doing.
5) Optometry encroachment scares me too. Also pisses me off TBH. I've been following the recent events in Florida and NC and have been motivated to get involved in my local medical societies. I wrote letters to house subcommittees a few months ago.
6) I'm at a busy program in terms of call, but we still definitely work less than the ENT residents at our university. I probably average 65 hours per week. Some weeks I am close to 80 hours and some weeks I am closer to 40 hours. Ophthalmology call can be very busy, but this is really program and location dependent.
7) At first I struggled with feeling like I was "giving up" the rest of the body by choosing ophthalmology. However, I really enjoy being a specialist now.

I chose ophthalmology relatively early and never really considered ENT. I knew I didn't want a residency with a truly surgical lifestyle, so I can't weigh in too much on your ENT vs. ophthalmology dilemma. For what it's worth I'm a married woman with children and I think I've been able to strike a pretty good life/work balance thus far. Good luck with your decision.

65 hours a week is chill af

 

[Bronze Medal]

Do you think that the encroachment is enough to dissuade one from going into ophthalmology? I can't see how the problem is going to get better before it gets worse.

I think it's another point to keep in mind, but obviously ophthalmology is not alone in facing encroachment. Knowing what I know now, I would still choose ophthalmology over again. Every optometrist I've personally worked with makes our jobs easier. They see our post-ops a month or so after cataract surgery. In peds clinic they see lots of kids who fail vision screening tests at school (i.e usually low refractive errors). Some fit our cornea patients with scleral contact lenses or other specialty lenses. Most of them are good at what they do and a pleasure to work alongside.

 

[operaman]

I don't think lifestyle is concerning me much anyone as I am now putting in about 75 hours a week and don't feel burnt out. My top thoughts at the moment are....
1. Encroachment of optometry scares the **** outta me.
2. The compensation patterns of ophtho are incredibly confusing. If Medscape and MGMA salaries are accurate I think I'd be 100% satisfied. To me 330k in ophtho compared to 390k in ENT is a nonissue. I get concerned when I see 140k for ophtho and 390k for ENT.
3. As I rotate on ENT I realize I'm still not wild about inpatient care. It's tedious and frustrating. Trachs are just not interesting; I'm not a huge fan of peds; eyes are 100x more interesting than ears.
4. I'm really interested in doing physician leadership in the future. I'm not sure how amendable ophtho is to global healthcare leadership vs ENT.

You are all outstanding individuals for taking time to share your thoughts. The support from you all is amazing.

Thoughts-

1)compensation is nearly impossible to discern from those surveys unless you really dig in and parse the data. So much hinges on location and practice type and your own individual business ability. They are a nice guideline, but probably nothing beats firsthand reports of recent grads telling you what they were offered in various scenarios. Obviously these are harder to come by, but worth asking around if you know people.

2) if you don't like peds and ears and inpatient care, you are effectively eliminating most of ent. There are subspecialties within it that could avoid those after residency - facial plastics, sinus, etc., but finding such an exclusive practice could be difficult and would limit your choices.

On the flip side, there are parts of ent that are hard to find interesting as a student and even as a junior resident until you get to start doing the cases, mainly because most of the cases are one person jobs where only the person doing it can totally see what's going on. You may not like ears, but that could change if you tried drilling a mastoid. If you're close to any of your residents, one might be willing to take you to the temporal bone lab and take you through drilling one. If your program has any sort of fresh tissue cadaver lab at some point, they might let you try some things you wouldn't otherwise get to do.

 

[Womb Raider]

How important is research for the ophtho match? I know the average step 1 score is ~243, but don't know much about ophtho (or uro for that matter) about what makes one competitive. Is it like neurosurg/derm where ophtho-specific research is heavily preferred?

 

[Osteoth]

Well, yes. My point is that medical practice in the community setting is highly variable depending on the medical community and what you're willing to give up.

Plastics fellowship isn't necessarily needed for an ENT surgeon to be comfortable doing rhinoplasty.

Of course. But at the same point a gentleman's agreement is one thing but it only takes one unhappy camper to derail the whole show.

 

[Trefoil]

Bumping a dead thread for no reason other than I feel like voicing my opinion.
I was in a similar situation, and I was extremely torn. As a medical student, I really loved ENT from a surgical perspective, but I felt sort of out of place within the crowd. I just didn't feel as...confident as the ENT residents.

I'll be totally honest, I rotated through ophthalmology and was totally unsure of what I felt about the specialty at the time. As a medical student, you get almost no exposure to the field, and it seems fairly narrow. You are an observer. However, as you learn more the world becomes larger, and so does the unknown.

I watched probably 50 cataract surgeries as a medical student; however, only now do I understand that I understood absolutely none of the nuance. We are obsessed with measurements and estimates in ophthalmology, so if you are into math and precision, ophthalmology will be a good fit. I am just now learning the complexities of lens selection.

I was worried as a med stud that I would get bored, but I can say that most days I see a ton of different pathology, and I am always trying to learn new aspects of management and surgical technique. In fact, someone could spend decades learning more about exam techniques and never master ophthalmology...management is another issue altogether.

I would recommend ophthalmology to people who are visual, (you like pictures), who are math oriented (to a degree), who enjoy procedures, and who enjoy the physical exam. Half the time, I just want patients to stop talking, so I can figure out what is going on. That being said, we also tend to have a lot of continuity, so I tend to let people talk more than they need to.

I am a PGY-2, and I can honestly state that I love my job. Patients really appreciate the work you do, and I have gotten more hugs and gifts in the last few months than I ever expected. A woman literally was praying for me to continue to do good work as I wheeled her out of the exam lane the other day.

Ophthalmology is a ton of fun. It's very academically challenging, and patients will love you for it. The pay is good relative to the hours you work. I think it is a huge bang for your buck specialty, but I am obviously biased. There is some degree of a leap of faith that you will need to make when choosing your specialty.

 

[masaraksh]

I don't even know what sarcasm means...

But yes, vascular surgery can get a bit rough at times. Sick patients. Big surgeries. Terribly noncompliant. But if you enjoy operating all throughout the body, longitudinal care for your patients, and playing with cool high tech toys; you may want to take a look at vascular surgery. It's not for everyone though. But I don't want to hijack this thread geeking out about how dope this field is.

Since when did varying levels of amputations become ‘high tech’?

 

[percyeye]

I think it's another point to keep in mind, but obviously ophthalmology is not alone in facing encroachment. Knowing what I know now, I would still choose ophthalmology over again. Every optometrist I've personally worked with makes our jobs easier. They see our post-ops a month or so after cataract surgery. In peds clinic they see lots of kids who fail vision screening tests at school (i.e usually low refractive errors). Some fit our cornea patients with scleral contact lenses or other specialty lenses. Most of them are good at what they do and a pleasure to work alongside.

There is one thing almost true whenever an Ophthalmology practice hires an Optometrist. They almost always end up hiring more. Instead of seeing a bunch of 1 day/1 week post ops you can be seeing more surgical consultants. Whenever both Ophthalmologists and Optometrists work well together that clinic is going to do better in almost every way compared to Ophthalmology or Optometry only.

 

[TypeADissection]

Since when did varying levels of amputations become ‘high tech’?

This guy amputates

 

[quesarasara]

Ophtho is a little more for people who are into technology. Both offer great lifestyles if you get into a good situation.

 

[Peach Newport]

I don’t understand why people are saying that you shouldn’t consider residency lifestyle. 5 years is not a drop in the bucket. That plus med school might by 1/8 of your life.

I don’t know how old you are, but I personally would not want to become an attending at 35 or so without a girlfriend, a family that I barely speak to, and no friends, which seems like the typical outcome of a 5 year surgical residency.